A Capsule Wardrobe & Crate Junkie

I know what you all are wondering: first of all, what is a capsule wardrobe? And what do crates have to do with it? Oh yeah, and how do these two things have anything to do with Jesus?

Well don’t worry, I’ll fill ya in on all you’ve missed. First off, a capsule wardrobe is this: you pick 37 items of clothing for an entire season and only wear those items- including shirts, bottoms, cardigans, and shoes. I found this idea on Un-Fancy Blog a few months ago and I was instantly hooked to the idea. But let me say this first: cutting down my wardrobe to 37 items was stupidly overwhelming at first. I mean, 37 items? Including cardigans and shoes? Come on now. But guys let me tell you: it is possible and it is worth it.

The reason I started this idea is because I have a problem of only wearing a few things in my closet, buying a few more items, only wearing those items, and then leaving all the other lovely shirts and pants from my senior year of high school in the dust. I knew that I needed to get rid of things, but I did not know how, and that is where this wonderful Capsule Wardrobe came in.

1 Timothy 6:7 says this: For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out.

Those few words from Paul cut me deep, and I realized that I was putting way too much pressure on myself to fit in with my style and clothes. I was putting way too much time, energy- too much money into my closet, and it needed to stop. I realized that, heck I love being in style and playing dress up, but man is it taking me away from being generous to others. And what is even worse, I would literally get stressed out getting dressed in the morning. I mean, seriously!? Am I five?

So I did some digging, I wrote down what I needed/wanted to fit into my wardrobe for this summer, and I got to “capsuling” my clothes for the summer months.

When my wardrobe was laid out and ready to go, I ended up having 40 items in all. I called the last three items my “fun” section, because it consisted of those brightly colored shorts and pants that I (a super neutral, black and stripe person) would only wear once or twice. I had too-many striped things and too many handmade shorts, but I cut it down and it was glorious.

I am going to stop here and answer this question for you all: in this wardrobe, I did not include my clothes for my job(s), my workout and bumming clothes or accessories. According to the Un-Fancy blog (she has a 6 page planning sheet to help with your wardrobe), I should have included my job clothes in this list, but the thing is, my teacher wardrobe and my salon assistant wardrobe are very different than what I wear on a daily basis. This will change in the fall, but just to clarify that I am not as awesome as the girl who created this “capsuling” thing. (But bumming clothes and accessories are not added originally so I was a winner there).

As this summer comes to an end, I can tell you that this new mindset did wonders for me. Yes, I bought two new dresses, a new cardigan, a shirt, and a pair of shoes. But when I did, I kicked out some other things that I was not wearing in the first place. I was not perfect, but I could not tell you the last time I stressed over what I was going to wear. I can also tell you that I did not even wear all that was in my wardrobe (mostly cause it rained a lot and I worked a lot and I like t-shirts and shorts but that is besides the point).

Man this was a long post, but I am so incredibly happy that I was able to share this. I had fun with it all, and I cannot wait to plan my fall outfits!

Oh, and the crate thing? Well just look at how fabulously they look in these photos. And honestly, I really just wanted to share how I use crates in my daily life! I was able to gather up some wine crates, which are such a pretty light-colored wood, antique crates bought at a flee market, and plastic milk crates from my parent’s for my lovely collection. You can stack ’em, use them as a way to display your books, throw all your shoes in one (I do this!), or even create an entire closet space out of them (kinda sorta shown here).

It is a little random to share them in this post, but they helped me with in displaying my lovely Capsule Wardrobe, so I figured, why not?!

In closing: thank you for reading this extremely long post, and I hope y’all can start your own capsule wardrobe for the upcoming season!